Written by Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Just moments after Ilia Topuria flattened Charles Oliveira to become the new UFC lightweight champion, he invited Paddy Pimblett into the cage to set up a potential showdown between them in the future. The heated altercation ended with Topuria shoving Pimblett with security swooping in to ensure the situation didn’t erupt any further but UFC CEO Dana White wishes none of it happened.
Following the end of the UFC 317 main event, White admitted that he was not happy that Pimblett was allowed to leave his seat, climb over the guard rails and then walk into the cage for a faceoff with Topuria no matter how much that may have built up a future fight between them.
Paddy Pimblett and Ilia Topuria faced off in the Octagon after Topuria’s UFC lightweight title win at #UFC317 pic.twitter.com/Immx3bc3SA
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) June 29, 2025
“I don’t know who the hell let him in there,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “That should have never happened. Let’s start there. I was already back in my room or that would have never happened.”
Just one fight earlier, Joshua Van strutted into the cage for a similar faceoff with UFC flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja but that interaction was much more cordial. White says that wasn’t a problem because Van already earned his title shot with a Fight of the Year performance against Brandon Royval so the stage was set for that encounter.
The same can’t be said Pimblett and Topuria because the UFC hasn’t made any decisions yet regarding the next challenger for the lightweight title.
Add to that, White wanted to give Topuria the time to celebrate a monumental achievement after becoming a two-division UFC champion not to mention the innocent bystanders in the cage when Pimblett got in there for the faceoff.
“My thing with Topuria, his wife and kid are in the octagon,” White said. “That’s not the fight. It shouldn’t have happened. That’s not really what we do.
“I don’t give a shit if it was fun to watch or not. That shouldn’t happen. Plus [Topuria] wins a second title in a higher division, it was a bad call by whoever the hell let him in there.”
Regardless of White’s feelings on how it all played out, it’s obvious that Topuria and Pimblett definitely want to fight each other, especially with all the bad blood they’ve shared in the past.
In fact, Topuria was actually very happy that he got that faceoff with Pimblett in the cage after his title fight victory.
“Someone told me Dana was a little bit angry about that [faceoff],” Topuria said at the post-fight press conference. “But [Dana] wasn’t there [to stop it]. So that [fight] has to happen.”
For his part, White wasn’t ready to commit to anything just yet and a decision on who gets the first crack at Topuria as lightweight champion is still to be determined.
“We’ll see,” White said about Topuria vs. Pimblett. “We’ll see how this plays out.”